


The Void

by iAnneart



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Comedy, and a little angsty, original characters see abridged characters, yugioh crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iAnneart/pseuds/iAnneart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The original characters of Yu-Gi-Oh are forced to watch their own TV show. Abridged style. Warning: unusual amounts of plot involved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pilot

**Bold face is the abridged series.**

_This takes place right when Yami Marik is about to send Yami Bakura to the shadow realm. (episode 97)_

* * *

 

.

The dark depressing purple clouds were a mist along the surface of the blimp, making for an even ominous and dreary mood along the two friends.

"I must put an end to Marik's evil plans." Yami said determinedly, arms crossed as Tea gazed at him worriedly. "You will!" She interjected fiercely, wholeheartedly believing the ancient spirit could save them all but it seemed the past Pharaoh's conviction waned at those words. Violet orbs cast down and a pensive slightly-discouraged look passed by his face, which only served to concern the brunette even more.

"You make it sound so easy, Tea...but he seems to get stronger and more evil with each duel." He spoke solemnly. "And I believe that the darker Marik becomes, the harder it is to shield the world from his wrath. " He turned his head to the left, unable to look at Tea as he knew his eyes would betray his fear. "Now Marik has begun to target my friends because of a grudge he has against me."

He thought of the people Marik has hurt, of Mai currently in a coma (with no guarantee of her ever waking up) and fear paved the way for anger. "He  _must_  be stopped before anyone else falls victim to his insanity!"

Tea immediately piped. "I'll help!"

While the two still talked about their plans to halt Marik in his evil path, the duel between the two Yamis was about to end. Ra had obliterated Bakura's life points, and the evil Marik was about to be declared the winner.

"Get ready to enter the darkness at the hands of Ra!" He said giddily in a morphed monstrous voice. Strangely enough, an unsettling knowing grin settled on the white-haired spirit's lips.

"Don't you realize that I AM the darkness?" Bakura stated in a calm rasping tone, seemingly not caring his body was wisping away like cigarrete smoke on a windy day. Marik chuckled mockingly, almost shaking his head at the tenacity of the spirit's refusal to lose. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked in an amused tone.

"It's quite simple. It means I can't be destroyed." The smoke faded all around him, yet he still had the chance to give a large smirk.

"You  **haven't**  seen the last of me!" Maniacal laughter still echoed after the last remnants of his eyes vanished, and the glittering millennium ring clattered to the floor.

Silence.

Nothingness.

Darkness.

.

.

White. Pure  _white_.

And...

An earsplitting shrill exploded in everyone's ear, and they all cried out in pain at the same time. In an instant, the shrill was gone. And now, everybody could see perfectly, think coherently and everything around them was just confusing as hell.

"...Can anyone explain what just happened?" Tristan moaned out, still hearing the remnants of that horrible sound. He was just sleeping normally, when he appeared here inexplicably. Joey was also in his PJs, wondering how he's managed to go from dreams of Mai to here. Everyone just kept staring at each other, as if expecting for someone to actually give out a logical explanation. Unfortunately, no one piped up with an possible reason. So all they did is stare and look at around at their surroundings, hoping that might give them a clue.

It was a white room, with a large white leather sofa in the middle of the room and a big screen TV right in front of it.

"A tv room?" Tea muttered confused.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Joey shouted, shocked beyond comprehension, jumping away as if he just saw a poisonous animal trying to attack him. Immediately, everybody zeroed in on the scene and like clockwork, Tristan, Tea, and Kaiba soon all had their eyes as big as dinner plates at what they were seeing.

Yugi and Yami.

They were right next to each other.

In  _separate bodies_.

The two were also staring straight at each other with a shocked look in their face, disbelief in both of their violet eyes. "How is this possible?" Yami spoke first, lowly as if speaking to himself.

"Y-Yami?" Yugi said timidly, never seeing the Pharaoh with a real body of his own and not just the manifestation his mind created for him.

"This literally cannot be happening." Kaiba growled, refusing to believe what he was seeing was actually true. Magic did NOT exist! Maybe this was a bad nightmare? Somebody must have spiked his food. Probably that mangy mutt Wheeler.

Yami couldn't help but notice something looked off in Yugi's disposition. He seemed at odds. Like if he wanted to do something, but was afraid of his reaction. He extended a hand to his aibo, and immediately noticed the problem. "Go on. You want to confirm I'm flesh and blood right?" A smile graced his lips.

Yugi didn't have to be told twice. He immediately glomped his darker personality, ecstatic beyond anything else in the world. So many times he'd pray to whatever was up there that Yami would be given his own body so he could literally feel him and not feel like such an insane person when he was talking to him. Also, he really wanted to hug him... He just never believed it would come true. The Pharaoh chuckled at the exuberant display of affection and wrapped his arm around the smaller boy's waist.

"Hey, there's a note on the edge of the sofa." Tristan said, quickly unfolding the mysterious piece of paper and reading aloud the printed words.

" _Welcome all. You will be shown an alternative universe of your entire world. Specifically, you will see your own life through an outside point of view. Just be warned, your character might not be what you thought it would. As episodes continue,_  wait episodes? The hell-" Tristan interrupted the letter with his own confused questions. "We're here to watch some type of TV show?"

"Keep reading it Tristan." Yugi urged his friend, completely intrigued and plenty confused at the letter's strange contents.

" _The entire time you are in this room, there will be no magic allowed from millennium items or otherwise. There is no way to summon the shadow realm here, and the injury of anyone is strictly prohibited, i.e impossible. The strongest emotions your character feels in the screen will also be reflected to you in a somewhat lesser state. Play the first episode, and have fun! - LK."_

"Who the heck is this LK?!" Joey shouted, aggravated by the letter's inability to explain anything.

"And what does this LK have in mind for us? What is the purpose of all of this?" Yami wondered out loud.

"He keeps referring to 'our characters' and 'episodes', like a show." Tea said thoughtfully. "I just don't get it. None of this make any sense! I seriously feel like this is all just some crazy dream."

"Great, that means I'm not the only one." Kaiba stated sarcastically, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes at the audacity of being stuck in this room with these losers.

"Well, we're not going to get any answers just standing here looking at each other, so we might as well turn on the TV and see this 'show' LK seems to be insisting on." Yugi stated in that oh-so optimistic tone he perfected over years. Everyone looked around, not finding any type of retorts or objections so they all shrugged and took a seat on the abnormally long couch. Even Kaiba reluctantly sat down, but only at the farthest end of the sofa away from anyone else. He was NOT part of the dweeb team.

"So...where's the remote?" Joey finally stated lamely. With these words, it seemed like the TV magically turned on. At first, it was a couple of seconds of pure static and the picture cleared up to show...Yami's face.

**Yami stood straight, eyes directly at the screen while many duel monster cards flew around like a running movie tape. "Yu-Gi-Oh! is filmed before a live studio audience. "**

At this, everybody looked at each other strangely.

**A blue sky with the sun shining brightly was shown briefly before the screen steadily lowered down to a school building.**

"Wait isn't that our school?" Tea asked, eyes furrowed in growing confusion.

**"Hey Joey. Earth to Joey!" The scene cut to Yugi's face half-cut by some Duel Monster cards. "Hey are you in there? It's your move!"**

"Have people have been following us around with cameras or something? I don't recall anyone taking a video of that duel..." Yugi stated worriedly. And was it just him, or did his voice sound kind of wonky?

"So in this weird-ass show,  _we're_  the main characters?" Joey said disbelievingly.

**Joey is shown with a small on his face, putting a monster card on the playing field. "Sorry, Yug. Doing this Brooklin accent makes it difficult to concentrate on card games!"**

The room was filled with an awkward silence, eyes zeroing on the blonde. "Yeah, I don't remember saying that." He finally said, scratching his head in confusion.

**Tristan suddenly appeared, throwing an arm around Joey. "I know what you mean! My voice is pretty crazy too. I'm thinking about changing it."**

"What the hell?!" Tristan shouted. A loud snort almost escaped Tea's mouth, and she covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing. Tristan's voice was absolutely ridiculous! Who in the hell had stolen his voice and replaced it with that?! Yugi looked more worried than ever, and Yami seemed to be thoughtful about something.

**Yugi appears on the screen again. "By the way, my grandpa has a super rare card!" The scene goes back to Kaiba reading a book, while Tristan says stupidly."Groovy!"**

**Joey retorts with a "Hey Bada-bing!"**

"Ok, seriously. Why do I sound like a complete idiot?" Tristan complained at no one in particular, while Kaiba's attention was peaked at his first 'appearance' in this absurd show.

**"Rare card? That sounds vague enough to be the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. And since I'm a child billionaire in charge of a huge gaming company, I obviously have nothing better to do than to check it out."**

"Hey you know, the show is kinda right." Joey idly says, trying hard not to grin. "It WAS totally vague! How'd you figure it was the Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

Kaiba merely growled in response.

**The scene cut once more to Yugi arriving with his friends to his grandpa's game shop. "Hey Gramps, can we please see your super rare awesome chocolaty fudge-coated mega supercard?"**

Now Yugi's character was acting weird. He slightly pursed his lips at the sight.

**Solomon replied. "I don't see why not. Here it is! The blue eyes white dragon!" He showed the card to the youngsters. Joey appears with a wide grin on his face. "That's..the least threatening name for a monster I've ever heard. What kinda mook would want a card like that?"**

**Suddenly Kaiba storms in with a stead fire determination. "I'm here for your Blue Eyes old man, and I won't take no for an answer! Now give it to me."**

**Solomon closed the special casement for the card. "No."**

**A close-up of an angry Kaiba is shown. "Curses! Foiled again."**

Snickers start up from Tristan and Joey's side of the couch, and Kaiba's eyebrow is twitching from the stupidity of this show. It's been less than a minute, and he already loathes everything about it, or more so he loathes how he's being portrayed as a moron.

**"I'm gonna go hire some thugs to kidnap you now. I'm a billionare so nobody will even think about pressing charges. "**

A question marked popped in everyone's mind. _Come to think about it._  Why didn't it occur to anyone's mind to call the police?

**"That Kaiba kid needs to get laid." Solomon says.**

**"Big time!" Tristan agrees.**

The snickers turned to full-blown laughter from Joey and Tristan, and even Tea was giggling softly in the palm of her hand. Both Yami and Yugi were fighting smirks, but failed miserably. "I think that applies to THIS Kaiba as well-"

"If you have any desire to keep on living, you will shut your damn snout this instant, mutt or I will make you regret it." Kaiba hissed acidly.

**The scene fades into black for a second before Yugi appears with a phone in his hand. "Hello? Game shop?" The scene is split into two places and Kaiba appears at the bottom of the screen. "I kidnapped your Grandpa, Yugi. And then I dueled him into submission. So could you get over here and call an ambulance for him? I have far too much money to be expected to do it myself!"**

**"Wait, who is this?"**

**A moment later, Grandpa's body is shown lying on the floor while Yugi come running out of an elevator. "Grandpa! Are you okay?" He kneels down to his grandpa who rises his head to talk briefly with his grandson.**

**"For some reason, playing a card game has caused me to become severely injured!"**

Once again, more questions popped in everyone's mind. The show was bringing up a bunch of good points that they never thought about.

**Kaiba is shown with the blue eyes white dragon card. "That's right! And now!"A close up of his hands ripping up the card are shown. "Watch this!" Yugi's shocked and angry expression fills up the screen. "Grandpa's super special rare awesome supercard!" He exclaims.**

**"What the heck did you do that for?!" Joey shouts angrily, while Tea looks at the screen weirdly. "So it can never be used against me." Kaiba explained vaguely.**

**"In that case, why not just tear up every card in the whole world!?" Yugi shouts exasperated.**

**"Shut up and duel me."**

**Yugi then turned his attention to his Grandpa. "Don't worry Gramps! I'll win this duel with your deck." Solomon is looking up at Yugi again, as if stunned. "W-wait a minute. I've been injured so you're going to steal my deck and go play cards with your arch-rival?"**

**"Pretty much. "**

**"No wonder your parents are never around!"**

The atmosphere filled with tension after this, and with good reason. Yugi's friends never asked about why he lived with his grandpa and not with his parents because it was none of their business, but with the tight-lipped awkwardness regarding the issue every time it was brought up by accident or otherwise, it probably wasn't a happy story.

**"Gather round everyone." Tea spoke for the first time in the series so far. "And I'll mark us with a special sign." A smiley face was drawn on four hands. Joey spoke up after seeing the mark on his hand, face betraying doubt. "Uh,Tea. Not for nothing but, ain't this permanent marker? " She raised her hand up. "Oh. Whoops."**

**"Why were you even carrying that thing around in the first place?"**

**"I'm a kleptomaniac. I stole it from school." Tea stated simply.**

**"Hey, my wallet's missing!" Tristan's voice was heard.**

**"KAIBA TOOK IT!"**

"Wow. That's just great. " Tea muttered. "I'm a kleptomaniac in this show. And my voice sounds like a middle-aged man trying to sound like a woman. Fantastic." Yugi smiled at her and offered a consoling pat on the shoulder. "Hey, don't feel bad. It seems like this show wants to make fun out of all us. It's not like it's real or anything."

"I think I got it." Yami suddenly declared. "The beginning of the letter stated we were about to see an alternative universe of our own world. What we are literally viewing is a portal or such to an alternative reality of ourselves in a form of a television show. Strange."

"So...you're saying these stupid versions of ourselves really exist?"

"Unfortunately."

"Kill me now." Kaiba muttered.

**"It's time to duel!" Yami spoke with an exaggerated low tone of voice. Kaiba looked shocked. "W-wait. Did your testicles just drop in the last five seconds or something? What the heck happened to your voice!?"**

Yami closed his eyes, hoping for his character to not be too bad. It was his turn to 'shine' in this world full of idiots. Let's see how he fared.

**"Holy Ra! Real monsters!" Yami exclaimed after seeing a large green monster rise from the card it had been placed in. "Actually, they are just super advanced holograms created for the sole purpose of enriching the experience of a children's card game." Kaiba explained with a smug look on his face.**

**Half of Yami's enlarged face took up the screen. "Okay, seriously you've got to be be F**#ing kidding me."**

And there it was. Yami facepalmed. The first to openly swear in this reality show, and in less than 30 seconds too. Off to a great start! "Man, Yami. Watch the language, this might be a kid's show." Joey said kiddingly, smiling at the obvious trauma the Pharaoh was going through.

**"Who wastes all that money on something like that?" Yami continued to rant.**

**"The guy who's going to beat your pasty Pharaoh butt with three blue eyes white dragons! That's who!"**

**Yami was shown with a conflicted look in his face. "Wait a minute, did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn?"**

**"Yeah. So?"**

**"That's against the rules, isn't it?"**

**"Screw the rules, I have money!"**

"This Kaiba doesn't seem all that different from the one in that reality." Joey mumbled. "BE QUIET MUTT!"

**"Now draw your last pathetic card, Yugi so I can finish you. " Again the screen split into two parts and Yami was at the bottom. "My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba. Except maybe the Kuriboh. But it also has this!" The card of Exodia is shown. "The unstoppable Exodia!"**

**Kaiba is shocked out of his mind. "AH! Exodia! It's not possible! Nobody's ever been able to summon Him!"**

**"Really? Is that because it's so rare?"**

**"NO, it's because this game makes no sense, nobody can figure out how to do it."**

**"Nobody except me!" Yami boasts. "Exodia, OBLITERATE!" The burst of Exodia's energy destroy's Kaiba's lifepoints. And then suddenly, out of nowhere- "Big Brother!" Mokuba suddenly appears. "Is it time for my cameo yet?"**

**"H-how...? How could you summon Exodia?" Kaiba, defeated and devasted, kept repeating to himself. Yami's forehead glowed with an eye. "Kaiba. If you really wish to know..." He dramatically threw an extended hand at his opponent's general direction. "Then TALK TO THE HAND!"**

**Kaiba screams unconvincingly, while his image shatters.**

"Clever, Pharaoh." Kaiba actually manages to get amused by this, even though it is a reminder of the loss he had towards his life-long rival. Yami manages a weak glare in return.

**Grandpa is shown in the hospital. He opens his eyes while Tea looks at him.**

**"I wet myself."**

This time, the entire gang facepalmed at this.

**A platinum-haired man appeared in a dark background, holding on what seemed to be a glass of wine in his hand. To his back, a shadow of a man stood in the middle of an open doorway.**

**"Mr. Pegasis sir. The reigning Duel Monster's champ has been defeated by someone named Yugi. Also, it's time for your sponge bath." Pegausus looked directly at the screen with a pleased look on his face.**

**"Mmmmm."**

**The scene went black.**

"That was the weirdest freaking thing I've ever seen." Tristan muttered. "And I think it still continues." He pointed at the TV screen, noticing the blackness started to fade to white.

"Oh great, here we go again." Tea rolls her eyes, but nevertheless, all eyes are glued on the screen to see the next episode of their alternative lives.

* * *

 

There you go, the first episode. I'll probably update every week if I get enough motivation (ahem reviews? :3). So if you want to see more, then...motivate me! And the reason Bakura and Marik aren't in the White Room will be explained at the episodes come along.


	2. Rocky VII

**Chapter 2: Rocky VII**

**Abridged is bold face**

* * *

 

As the gang waited for the next episode to play, a sudden fuzzy white light appeared at the corner of the room. It grew in magnitude until everyone's attention was forced on the strange almost blinding sight.

"Huh? What's that?" Joey said, confusion and a bit of fear blooming in his eyes. "I'm not sure," Tea managed to reply as she shielded her face from the unpleasant light.

Soon enough, it began to subside albeit slowly and they all noticed one by one there was a person cradling his knees up to his chest. His hands were covering his ears, and by the expression he had, he most likely also heard the horrible shrilling sound that threatened to make any human's ears bleed if heard for two seconds too long. His eyes were squeezed tight, but then relaxed as he realized the ear-splitting noise was gone.

Warm chocolate brown eyes opened, looking quite bewildered.

 _Bakura._  Yugi realized in shock, recognizing the white locks of hair as his British friend's.

He scanned the room suspiciously before they landed on Yugi's familiar purple ones. His orbs widened in surprise, not expecting to see known faces. "Oh. Um, hello." Ryou Bakura stated softly, glancing at each and every person in the room with a small nervous smile. Kaiba did not pay attention to new member, and merely looked away as if greeted by a bug. Tea gasped in surprise, also recognizing the boy.

"Ohmy-  _Bakura_? You're AWAKE!" The brunette jumped from an inhumane distance to give Ryou a tight hug.

"You were out for so long." Yugi stated still in a shocked stance, also stepping close to the boy to give him a proper greeting.

"It's good to see you up and running, Bakura." Yami offered, but not moving from his initial position. At his comment, Ryou flinched in a startle and he whipped his head to see the regal look-alike of Yugi looking back at him.

"Wait...is that your-" He stuttered slightly, still unable to comprehend what was going on. Noticing his bewilderment, Yami quickly explained. "For some reason, I was given my own separate body in this room. I am not sure how that happened either, nor do I know if it's permanent. "

Joey gave an exuberant wave to his friend. "Hey man, you're finally awake from your coma! That's great! But it seems like you got stuck here with us once again, huh?" Ryou was unable to respond to that comment at the moment as he was still trying to figure out how it was possible to be free of the Shadow Realm so quickly. His soul was just cast into it a few minutes ago along with the idiot  _stupid_ spirit of the ring.

"What am I doing here?" He finally asked, looking at the circle of friends, hoping they'd have answers to this strange predicament. Everyone looked at each other uneasily, which did not bode well at all.

"...Yeah. That's the thing. We have no clue." Joey hesistantly supplied an answer, albeit an unsatisfactory one. Ryou bit his lip in worry, large brown eyes darting from wall to wall, inspecting it for any type of exit or door.

"It's useless Bakura." Tristan interrupted the white-haired boy's current thought process. "We've already checked every nook and cranny of the room when we first appeared in it. There's no way out." He explained. A hum of worry escaped the boy's lips, and he looked at Yugi for confirmation of Tristan's words. Indeed, the short duelist nodded.

Well, in regards to what position he originally was in (the Shadow Realm was quite literally the definition of his christian hell), he was in a  _much_  better place. And with MUCH better company. Ryou realized he'd just been granted an escape from such a horrid place, and gave a small sigh of relief. "Even if we're seemingly stuck here against our will, I have to say, I much prefer this situation than the one I was in a minute ago." He gave an slight unconscious shiver at the thought of where he was before. Again, everyone gave each other uneasy looks but Joey soon broke the silence.

Hooking a powerful arm around Ryou's neck, the loud blonde said directly to his ear. "Well, you ain't there anymore so don' think about that. You're gonna lose your mind when we fill you in what we've been seeing."

"What do you mean?"

With this said, the gang dragged Ryou to the couch and made him sit down. "Well, first thing's first. Read this." Tristan handed him the letter signed by LK. The white-haired teen scanned the paper, reading it with increasing disbelief. "I don't understand-" He whispered, as he folded the paper neatly at the edge of the sofa.

"Ir's hard to explain." Yugi said. "Look at the TV screen, I think that will be able to answer any questions you have better than we can."

Confused by how weird his friends were acting, Ryou decided to just do as Yugi told him to. The screen was white, but it soon became a moving image. "Look guys, it starts with Yami just like the last episode." Tea mused out loud. Brown eyes narrowed in confusion. Why was Yami in a TV screen? How in the world would showing them one of his televised duels answer  _any_ of his questions?

**"In tonight's episode, the part of Tristan Taylor will be played by Barney the Dinosaur."**

"Hey, now I know why that voice sounded so familiar!" Joey said laughingly, while Tristan growled at him to shut up. Ryou just grew even more hopelessly confused. "Tonight's episode?" He asked lowly.

**Domino's classroom was shown as the camera gave a slow sweep to the side until it rested on Yugi, Tea, and Joey playing on one of the desks with Ryou and Tristan standing at the side.**

**"I say Yugi, can I play too?" Ryou asked hopefully.**

**"Sorry Bakura. Main characters only." Yugi replied nonchalantly if not dismissively, resting his chin on his hand.**

Everyone turned to look at Yugi with shocked eyes, appalled somebody so sweet would ever say something like that to one of his friends, even in another dimension.

"Harsh, Yug." Joey said, albeit in a joking way but Ryou was looking at the short duelist with such a crestfallen wide-eyed expression, Yugi could almost hear his heart crack. "On second thought, maybe we should explain what we're watching." He announced with a slight blush, turning his attention to his friend.

"Okay, just to be clear Ryou. Those people in the TV are not us. That's not me. That's not you. We are literally watching a TV show of our alternative lives in an alternative universe."

"And our alters are kind of assholes." Joey piped up. Yugi whipped his head around in surprise. "Joey!"

"What? I ain't sayin nothing but the truth!"

"And idiots..." Tristan added, fuming at the way his voice was portrayed in the AU. Yugi turned his attention to the British boy again, and was relieved to no longer see Ryou look as if he was betrayed in the worst way possible. Now he looked thoughtful.

"So, in other words. I would  _never_  say that to you." Yugi emphasized kindly. "I'm pretty sure anything that comes out of these character's mouths are the exact opposite of what anyone here would say."

"Well, I still think Kaiba needs to get laid-"

"JOEY!" Everyone shouted, while Kaiba's left temple throbbed with a dangerously angry vein.

"You know," Ryou began. "I  _did_  notice my character sound a bit..off. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not. I don't really sound like that, do I?"

Everyone shook their head. He sighed in relief once more.

**"Playing card games sure beats doing school work! Arithmetic is for losers!" Joey says arrogantly. Tea flips up her card, which is a cutesy winged girly ball. The attack and defense points of both players' cards are shown. "Now I just gotta subtract your defense points from my attack points and.. and uh- Wait a minute, how do I do that?"**

**Tea has a giddy look on her face with an arm planted on her hip. "It's official. You're an idiot. "**

**"I love youuu, you love meee. We're a happy famileeeee!" Tristan sang stupidly.**

"Oh my God, Tristan I think I like your alter personality better." Joey finally managed to wheeze out after laughing so hard. True enough, everyone had burst out laughing. Even Kaiba cracked a small barely-there smile.

**Yugi and Joey were shown hanging out in front of a white wall, with Yugi sitting with feet dangling upon a horizontal monkey-bar pole and Joey leaning on it casually. "Tristan's song taught me a valuable lesson. I need to learn how to be a better duelist!" The blonde grabbed his friend by the shoulders in a panic. "You've got to help me out here, Yug!"**

**"Let me see your deck. " Yugi stated, taking hold of his buddy's cards and shuffling them one by one.**

**_Oh man. His deck is even more powerful than mine!_ ** **His violet irises grew bigger.**

**_Whoa, the Dark Magician! I just gotta have that!_ **

**"Geeze Joey, your cards are worthless!"**

"I would never say that! Or do that for that matter!" Yugi shouted, feeling the need to clear his name even though it was the alternative version of him being the jerk. Joey looked at him suspiciously. "Eh, you sure that's not what you did when you updated my deck?" The small boy gasped in surprise.

"Of course not, Joey! How can you even think I would do something like-"

"BWHAHA, I'm just joshing you buddy. I know you wouldn't ever do that." Joey grinned at him, and Yugi deflated from his righteous speech.

**"Why don't I get rid of these and we'll go visit Gramps and set you up with a new special super awesome deck?"**

"Is it just me, or does my character say 'super special awesome' a tad too much?" Yugi groaned, wishing he would really shut up. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

**"Thanks, Yug. You're always looking out for me." Joey says fondly.**

**Back at the Game shop, Grandpa is then seeing putting up a poster one of the store's games, while thinking to himself. _Oh Blackluster Soldier, no one must ever know of our forbidden love._**

"Uh...ew."

**"Hey Yugi's grandpa! How 'bout training me to become Duel Monster's champ over here?" Joey says obnoxiously. The old man climbs down the stairs. "Very well, but it will require hours of rigorous off-screen practice!"**

**Joey looks shocked at this. "Really? I don't even get a training montage?"**

**"Who do you think you are, Rocky Balboa?" Grandpa retorts angrily.**

Yami really needed to start watching more modern television. All of these references were going way over his head.

**The scenes cuts to a Duel Monster's arena, where an announcer is well..announcing. "Welcome to the Regional Championship where the comic relief villains are having a meaningless duel!" Rex and Weevil are shown in their prospective places with determined evil looks on their faces.**

**"I can't believe we're actually airing this on TV, folks!" The TV screen shrinks as Yugi and the gang are shown seeing the said championship. "Man, I love the card game channel. " Joey said. Yugi replied back excitedly. "It's almost as good as the watching paint dry channel!" Just then, Grandpa appears with a large-looking white package.**

**"There's a package here for you, Yugi." The angle of his face changed to a closer one. "You'd better not been using my credit card to buy Duel Monsters merchandise off Ebay again."**

**"It's from Industrial Illusions. I guess they heard about my victory over Kaiba." Yugi reasoned while looking at the box. "Yeah, those card games are big news. It completely overshadowed the fact that he kidnapped and hospitalized your grandpa." Joey stated blandly.**

"As always, Wheeler overreacting." Kaiba stated, while rolling his eyes. This time, not only did Joey gave him the stink eye but also from Yugi too. "But you  _did_ send my grandpa to the hospital." He crossed his arms, irritated. "And come to think about, you've never even apologized for it!"

"Oh please, who gets sent to the hospital for losing a duel?! Talk about a sore loser..." Seto muttered.

"You're one to talk! You're the biggest sore loser I've ever met!"

**"Hey look!" Tristan interjected happily while looking at the television. "I'm on TV!"**

**"What are you talking about Tristan?" Joey asked his friend, looking at the duel monster appearing from the game. "That's just a purple dinosaur."**

**"Hehehe. Hey Weevil." Rex said. "Check it out." He raised a card up and the scene changed to the same purple dinosaur from bottom up.The three-headed creature had three horns on each head.**

**"My dinosaur's horny."**

Everybody groaned at the display of sheer idiocy.

**"Ah hehehe. Get it?"**

**"Yeah. Huhuhu. Yeah. Huhuhuh." Weevil gave an abnormal nasal laugh.**

**"It's like...your move or something?" Rex stated dumbly. "Huhuhuhu. Bugs are cool. Huhuhu." Was Weevil's response as he put a card on attack position.**

**"These guys sounds awfully familiar." Yugi said in a pensive voice.**

"Beevis and Butthead." Joey, Tristan and Yugi all say at the exact same time. Yami just looks confused, as he has no idea who these people are. "Beef is and Who?"

**"So, like. I'll...attack or something?" Rex once again said in a stupid voice. "You like, activated my trap card buttmunch. Huhuhu." Weevil reiterated.**

**"Hehehe... No way."**

**"Fire! Yeah, huhuhuhuh. " Rex's purple dinosaur was vanquished and he looked disappointed, head hanging down. "This sucks! I'm gonna go like, get some nachos."**

**"Ladies and gentlemen. Let's see hear it from Maximilium Peeeeeee-gasus!" The announcer dramatically introduced the creator of Duel Monsters, who carried a shiny gold trophy in his hands. "Congratulations Mr. Underwood." Pegasus walked to the little insect freak and bend to his level. "Here's your trophy. Now allow me to make your victory utterly pointless by announcing a far more interesting contest with a much grander title up for grabs!"**

**"Woah, huhuhu!" Weevil grabbed his trophy. "This chick is hot. Huhuhu!"**

"Wow, I think they're bigger idiots than Tristan's character. And that's saying something. " Tea mused.

" **Hey there a video inside the package!" Yugi said as he opened the contents of said box containing a video tape, a glove and two stars. "I just hope it's not one of those cursed videotapes that are all the rage lately," Grandpa grumbled as his grandson put in the tape in the VCR which started with some static and then Pegasus's face appeared.**

**"Seven days." Pegasus said creepily.**

**"Oh snap, I knew it!" Grandpa shouted angrily.**

Joey snickered. "You know, this show is actually pretty funny."

"Only you would consider something so asinine and moronic 'funny', Wheeler. I'm not surprised." Kaiba smoothly stated, looking nonchalantly to his side. "HEY YOU-!" Tea merely put a hand to Joey's shoulder and gave him a parenting warning. With that, the blonde shut up.

**"That's right, Yugiboy. There are only seven days 'till Duelist Kingdom. And in order to get you to enter, I'm going to force you to play a shadow game. Win in fifteen minutes and I'll release your friends.**

**Yami suddenly appears with smug smirk on his face. "That's fine by me, Pegasus. I'll beat you with the cards I took from J-, I mean the one cards that Joey gave me." Pegasus merely grins back as his left eye starts to glow from beneath his hair. "You won't beat anyone with that dragon card."**

**Yami is shocked. "You can see into my mind?!""**

**"Yees, Pharaoh-boy. And I can see you and I have a great deal in common." He said dismissively as he looked at a random card in his hand. "What's _that_  supposed to mean?" The ancient spirit retorted in a offended tone.**

**Pegasus gives another smile, and throws his hands back flamboyantly. "Isn't it obvious?"**

**This seems to fire Yami up as he angrily shouts at the man. "LOOK, pal! Just because I inhabit the body of a teenage boy doesn't mean I'm a-"**

**"Oh come now, Pharaoh-boy don't be so gouache. I was referring to our Millennium items."**

**"Oh." Yami says lamely. "Right. I knew that."**

"I don't understand." Yami looked around his friends, trying to find clues in their faces. But it seemed like nobody wanted to face him head-on. In fact, they were all kind of turning away with shocked expressions as if embarrassed for him. Definitely not a good sign. "What did my alter mean?"

"I-I don't think you really want to know, Yami." Yugi finally spoke up sheepishly, a blush tinging his cheeks. "Actually, I really do want to know. Especially if everybody else already does and refuses to tell me." The older doppelganger finishes with a hint of frustration and nerves.

If nobody wanted to tell him, then that meant it was  _especially_  bad. His nerves grew and he found his heart to be a bit quicker. Did he  _really_  want to know?

It seemed Ryou was the only brave soul to move over to Yami's side and lean over to his ear. Everyone held a silent gasp as Ryou whispered the meaning to the Pharaoh with a hand cupping his mouth. Immediately after he finished, he moved to his original seat and waited. Yugi had his eyes closed as if waiting a hit, and opened one eye fearfully.

Yami was stone still in his seat, face practically expressionless except the slight widening of his irises. If not for the bright blush on his cheeks, Yugi could have sworn he had hardened to rock. He only said one thing.

"...Oh."

Yugi could almost imagine the older doppelganger screaming internally in mortification.

**The timer was at five minutes, and dramatic pauses with small boxes of different images appeared of every corner with each second passed. "What would you say if I told you I didn't actually create Duel Monsters, and that it's actually based on mystical duels held by powerful Pharaohs many thousands of years ago?" Pegasus asked mysteriously, pointing a finger directly at Yami.**

**"Whatchu talking 'bout, Pegasus?"**

**"These pharaohs battled with real monsters and real magic. So as you can imagine it was a great deal more exciting than the watered-down product I created."**

**Yami then seemed to realize something. "Wait a minute! You're just using this monologue to stall for time!"**

**The timer had one second left. "Well it worked, didn't it?"**

**"You're a CHEAT!"**

**"No, my strategy was merely-"**

**"HEY EVERYBODY! PEGASUS IS A BIG STINKY CHEATER!" Yami shouted.**

Yami couldn't help rolling his eyes, teeth gritting in annoyance at his character. "How mature of me." Yami stated sarcastically.

**"Oooh. So that's the way it's going to be is it? Fine then." Pegasus raised his bangs from his millennium eye, which began to glow.**

**"Let's see how your grandpa manages..." The bright glowing light burst out of the televisiona and enveloped Grandpa's spirit. "..Without his soul!" Pegasus smirked and gave a half shrug. "Ooo, I'm so ambiguously camp!"**

**"Yuuuuuuuuugiiiiiiiii" Grandpa croaked from the static-y television, and Yami transformed back to Yugi. "You BASTARD! You turned him into a mime! Grandpa!" The shadows left the living room, making everybody conscious of what was going on and they saw the old man hitting the floor with a dull haze look to his eye.**

**"GRANDPAAAAA!" He screamed while shaking the tv back and forth.**

**"Hey Yug. Down in front, will ya?" Joey stated simply.**

**"Yeah, we're watching that!" Tristan added.**

**With that the screen went black.**

"Is this...what we have to be watching until our captor sees fit to release us?" Ryou numbly asked.

"I guess. That's what the note says." Tea says with an exasperated sigh.

"Wonderful. I guess there's no other choice but to keep watching right?" Ryou sighed.

Kaiba crossed his arms in an indignant huff. "Pff. I wasn't even in this episode, why did I even have to be here?" He muttered.


	3. My Cards Will Go On

 

* * *

 

.

"Hey, I think someone else is appearing." Yugi pointed out the same corner of the room Bakura appeared at, which was currently emitting a steadily growing white glow. The same glow grew until it grew blindingly-bright just like last time, and everybody had to cover their eyes for a moment until it subsided at least a bit.

"Who could it be?" Tea wondered out loud, squinting until the light died down. The person had her hands clapped to her ears, eyes shut tight and with a painful grimace just like Bakura did a while ago. It seemed it was an universal law everybody who teleported to this room had to endure a high-pitched shrill ring for a couple of seconds before the white light subsided.

Mai Valentine's grey eyes groggily opened, as if getting up from a too-long nap. She slowly scanned over each blurry figure in the room, not recognizing any of them as more than dark blobs moving erratically, one blob in particular jumping up and down wildly. A black horrid noise, though no more horrid than the shrill one ringing in her hear, enveloped her. It was like static, graying down everything and made her head feel like if was stuffed with cotton. Her heart started to beat faster. Was this another illusion the dark version of Marik prepared for her? This was just too strange. She didn't feel any heavy sense of dread and despair weighing down her soul with every passing eternal second, nor was she suffocating in her own poisonous envy.

She thought the shadow realm would forever show her worst fears with no end, but out of nowhere it just ends. Nothingness.

Her surroundings, senses, her  _mind_  was gone! Though being repeatedly reminded of what she could never have was pure torture, she had no idea what was going on at this very moment. The entire situation was very disorienting and frightening. She grew even more scared at the same dark figure jumping suddenly running towards her.

She felt too weak to try and run, but she still put trembling outstretched hands up as if to fend off an attack. The figure stopped in its tracks and unbeknownst to her, a weak fearful whimper escaped her plump lips while she shut her eyes tight once again. Her knees suddenly seemed unable to handle her weight and they gave underneath her, making her crumple. Muted sounds, some higher-pitched than others, resonated but never fully. It was as if she had been submerged underwater in a black inky sea, her eardrums pulsing with the waters while the noisy world continued on as always just above her.

Fear was the only real emotion she could decipher from the chaos in her mind.

_"Mai..."_

A jump in her heart, and it surprisingly wasn't from fear. That voice...

 _I know that voice._ She realized in an instant.

"Mai, speak to me! Please..." Yes. Crystal clear, her head didn't feel cotton-like anymore. She'd been drowning and somehow she'd been saved from being underwater. She was 120% sure she knew that voice. It was a rugged masculine voice with a slight accent, and heavily-tinged with concern.  _B-but, if then that means I'm not in- it's not possible-!_

In an instant, she opened beautiful violet eyes. The dullness vanished.

It was him, no doubt about it. His worried brown eyes was the first thing she saw, scruffy blonde hair framing his handsome face, hovering above her like some type of guardian angel. A pressure on her waist indicated he was currently holding on to her collapsed figure.

_Joey._

Mai's eyes blurred with sparkling tears, and she threw arms around Joey's neck with no second thoughts or remorse. She sobbed silently, overwhelmed of pure happiness as she embraced him tightly, making it seem like she never wanted to let go. And maybe she didn't. She was free from that hell.

"It's okay, Mai. I've got you." Joey gently caressed the back of her hand, slowly interweaving his fingers through her silky blonde hair. "We all got you."

She was safe.

"Yeah, Mai. We're all here for you." A feminine voice piped up, and she looked up with a smile on her face. All familiar faces. Tea stood a few feet away with the others being Yugi, Bakura, Tristan, Kaiba (a few more feet from everyone else but that's no surprise), and...

_..Yami?_

This was enough to shock her of her tearful happy moment, and she pulled away from Joey's arms in outright bewilderment. The blonde in question did not mind, knowing the woman could be embarrassed from showing so much emotion. It seemed like she regained her strength, as she could immediately stand up and point an almost-accusing finger at the older doppelganger.

"You-"

Yami knew what was coming so he decided to interject. "Yes, I know. For some reason, I have my own body. I have no idea why. "

Mai nodded once, but not really understanding..anything really and now her attention was directed toward the entire surrounding, looking up and around. "This place." She said blankly, the surprise of everything slowly wearing off.

"What _is_  this place? Where are we?" She looked around the crowd of faces, hoping to find some answers to her questions but saw blank slates.

"Another thing we have no idea about. Why the hell we're here." Joey said from behind, startling her for a second. She whipped her head around, looking at the blonde head on and then turning around to gauge the reactions of everybody else. She gave a slight disbelieving scoff, thinking about how ridiculous this entire situation was. "You've got to be kidding me. No one knows anything? Like why I've been ripped out of the Shadow Realm-which I am not complaining about in any shape or form, I must add- or how you are all here in this white void of a room?"

"I'm afraid we are not kidding." Ryou spoke up, stepping closer to the busty woman. "Not only do we not know anything on what is going on around us, but there seems to be an certain person or some type of deity, I'm not sure really, who is toying with us. Goes by the name of LK." She steps closer to the white-haired teen, seeing he is taking out a folded paper from his jeans pocket.

Mai then reads the strange letter, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and downright irritation. "What is all this crap of alternative universe?" She complains.

"Somehow, we are literally seeing a television series of our lives in another dimension." Yami stated as a matter-of-factly.

"Uh, come again?" Tristan, seeing there was no other way to explain other than to sit her down and let her watch the next episode, did just that. He grabbed the white control at the edge of the equally-white coffee table and looked at her weirded-out expression. "We want you to watch something. And since you're here with all of us, I'm pretty sure LK wants you to watch it too." Tristan replied.

One by one, everybody took their seat in no particular order in the long couch.

"Wait. Disclaimer!" Yugi suddenly said, remembering what happened the last time they decided to show the 'new' member of their group the show without giving them a heads up about their characters. "Oh yea, just one more thing. All of our characters are either unbelievably stupid or complete douche bags. Sometimes both." Joey clarified. Mai looked at him with an eyebrow raised up. "Excuse me?"

"Well, hehe. I can't say for sure that will happen to your character since you haven't appeared yet in an episode, but yaknow it seems to be a continuing trend..." He scratched his head, laughing sheepishly.

"Mine hasn't been either category." Ryou retorted, irritated he was getting grouped with those two detestable categories. "Well, you only did manage to say one thing. No offense or anything!" Joey stated, hands up as if saying  _I didn't mean any insult by that_ , not wanting to hurt the boy's feelings.

"I guess..that's true." He merely responded dejectedly. "You should count your blessings, Bakura. Your character so far hasn't been displayed as a vulgar, crass, disgusting and  _perverted_ individual." Yami muttered heatedly, making a slight blush appear in both Yugi and Yami's faces. That shut Ryou up instantly, lips clamping up in order to not giggle.

"Will someone please press play already! I seriously don't understand what any of you are saying." Mai growled, to which Tristan obliged.

**Yami's face appeared, zooming out, looking directly at the screen. "I'm not actually in this episode. Has anyone seen my agent?"**

Mai looked at the person next to her in confusion, which so happened to be Tea. "Every episode so far starts off with Yami's face zooming out while cards are flying around. He usually says something silly or strange." She explained to the best of her knowledge. The older woman, nodded, although still very puzzled and put her attention back to the screen.

**The school building was shown with a dark sunset-lit sky zooming in. "Well, Grandpa's a drooling vegetable," Yugi's profile is shown from bottom to the top, while his school jacket is flapping in the wind and he's clutching at the fence staring into the sunset with a wistful expression on his face. "Now, thanks to Pegasus he's lost his soul too!"**

"I resent that comment." Yugi crossed his arms. "Grandpa is very able and vivacious for his age!"

"No doubt about it, Yug." Joey agreed.

**Yugi appears from a front perspective, the fence criss-crossing on his entire body. "I just got to save him." The scene changed to a far away picture, with Yugi's small figure at the bottom of the screen. "But first, I should figure out how to get down from here. "**

**The 'camera' panned out from the shot, now focusing on the red orange sunset. "Hello?" His voice echoes into the sky. "A little help here? Anybody?"**

"Like I would actually go the roof of any type of building and not know how to get myself down. I'm not an idiot." Yugi scoffed.

Tristan 'tsked' at him with a wagging finger. "But you forget my young sapling. You may not be an idiot, but your  _double_  is."

He grumbled in response.

**"Hey it's another video!" Joey is shown holding a cassette tape and putting it in the VCR. The TV in front of him turns static-y. "I wonder if Pegasus wants me my soul too!" The static went away to show Serenity with a greeting hand in the air.**

**"What's up big brother?"**

"Oh my God, what the hell is wrong with her voice!" Joey shouted at the screen, and Mai looked at the exalted blonde next to her in a startle. Tristan was equally as shocked, stuck in between gaping and horror and laughing uproariously.

**"It's my sister who sounds nothing like me!" Joey exclaimed.**

"SEE? Even my DOUBLE knows her voice is ridiculous!"

"Shut up, Wheeler."

**A close of Serenity is shown with a happy smile on her face. "The doctors have been so busy trying to figure out why my voice is so high-pitched, they've neglected to treat my eyesight. So I'm going blind."**

"Now she knows too! This is some serious 4th wall breaking shit, right here." Joey Wheeler said in awe.

**"Well, see you later! ...Or not." The TV turns to static once again.**

"That was surprisingly dark." Tea commented, taken back.

**"I guess my soul ain't good enough for Pegasus" Joey says miserably, as his depressed reflection is showcased on the television screen. The scene cuts to the classroom, where the gang is gathered around Yugi's desk, and Tristan is dueling against Yugi himself.**

**"I've decided to accept Pegasus's invitation and travel to his private island where I'll be completely at his mercy." Yugi says, while a close up of his face is shown. The scene zooms back, so he's seeing addressing everyone. "It's a shame rich megalomaniacs are immune from the law. Otherwise, we could just call the police."**

"That sounds about right! I should have called the police and tell them this eccentric billionaire kidnapped my grandpa's  _soul_ and he wants me to duel him for it. Yeah, they will totally go for that!" Yugi said sarcastically. Now four heads turned towards the short duelist in a bit of concern.

Yugi wasn't usually sardonic and snippy. "More like the quickest way to get locked up in a padded room." He mumbled quietly afterwards.

**"Cash sure does do terrible things to people. It's like the old saying goes! Money is the root of all-" Joey began saying.**

**"Hey look!" Tristan interrupted, holding up two cards in his hands.**

"PFFF" Mai covered her mouth in order to stifle her laughter. Tristan merely grumbled. "Yeah, yeah. My voice is a hoot. Moving on!"

**Tristan's face is shown in a close-up."This tournament has the prize of $3 million!" Joey immediately takes away one of the cards his friend was holding. "CHA-CHING!" He looks at the card excitedly. "Duelist Kingdom here I come!"**

**The picture changes to Joey sitting against a wall at night, and Yugi steps closer to him. "Hey Joey!" Yugi's face takes up the entire screen. "Remember the time we became friends?" He asks the blonde.**

**"Yeaaaah." Joey turns around as if reminiscing good old times. The scene fades into white, flashback mode.**

**_Joey is grinning evilly down at a smaller-looking Yugi who raising his hands up and mouth open in protest. "GIVE ME BACK MY MILLENNIUM PUZZLE, YOU BIG DICKWEEDS!" He is shouting. The scene zooms out until both Joey and an equally-evil looking Tristan holding the gold box of Yugi's millennium puzzle can be seen._ **

**_"WAAAAAH!"_ **

**_"We're tormenting youuuuuu!" They both sang out stupidly while Yugi cries as the screen faded into white again._ **

Mai, Kaiba, and Ryou blinked, not expecting two of Yugi's best friends to have once been his bullies. Three pairs of eyes zoned in on the two culprits, subconsciously waiting for an explanation."You guys used to bully him?" Mai asked quite bluntly. Both Joey and Tristan had the decency to look guilty. "...Yeah. It was a long time ago, and we were just being...ya know. Dickweeds." Joey supplied lamely.

"We really didn't have any reason to do it, we just thought it was good fun." Tristan replied, eye downcast, knowing there was no excuse to what they did. Yugi suddenly intervened. "And I forgave them for it."

Now everybody had their attention on Yugi. "I'm not saying their actions were okay, because they're not. But, I realized I would only hurt myself if I kept being angry and resentful towards the people that constantly bullied me. And my grandpa always said to me, 'kill them with kindness.' That's exactly what I did."He finished in a calm relaxed tone.

"Yeah, we're really sorry about what we did, Yug. It was really stupid of us." Joey apologized sincerely, feeling like crap along with Tristan. "Don't mention it. The past is in the past." Yugi replied with a smile on his face.

**"Actually Joey, I was talking about the part after that." Yugi spoke, looking straight at the blonde teen. "Oh. Oh, yeah! Now I remember!" The scene faded back into white, with the same flashback appearing from before.**

**_"I mean it guys, give it back this is-"_ **

**_"We're still tormenting youuuuu!"_ **

**The scene faded to white, Joey looking at Yugi's profile with a kind expression on his face. "Man. Good times."**

"That's some bullcrap." Joey said angrily. "I don't ever think of that as 'good times'. Nor do I want to think of it for fun!"

"I know, Joey." Yugi says understandingly.

**The camara pans slowly from Yugi to Joey at a side angle. "No Joey, I mean the time where I saved you from that bully."**

**"Huh. No." Joey states simply, disbelievingly. "No, I don't remember that." The picture now shows both friends sitting down, looking at each other. "But I was all heroic and stuff!" Yugi interjects, and Joey completely ignores his statement to say:**

**"Hey, remember the time me and Tristan took your millennium puzzle?"**

**Cue the same flashback. _"Waaaaaaaaah!"_**

**" _TOOOORMEENT_!"**

**Yugi snaps his head straight. "Remind me why we're friends again?"**

"This episode is really getting on my nerves." Tristan hisses, two fingers rubbing his temples as a he could feel a headache coming on.

**The scene suddenly cuts to a large cruise ship, where a lot of people are gathering around to get in. "ATTENTION DUELISTS!" It now cuts to one of the security guards with really pointy hair. "My hair is telling me that it's time for you to board." He is now seeing addressing the large crowd at the bottom of the ship.**

**"Anyone caught without a crazy hairstyle will not be permitted to enter the duelist kingdom."**

**Next, Joey is seen with two buff security guards holding him by the arms while he is struggling angrily. "Hey, but my hair is all blonde and poofy!" The security guard answers. "Sorry sir, but it needs to be at least twice the size of your head for it it count!"**

**Yugi then appears. "He's with me." The two security guards look astonished. "Wow. Your hair is crazy enough for two people! Okay, he can go."**

"...Hairstyle had absolutely nothing to do with who entered the ship." Yugi mumbled, feeling embarrassed and touching his hair self-consciously. Mai had to fight off a smirk, finding the blushing boy cute. "...And besides, I like it this way." He said defensively.

**"Thanks, Yug. Man, your hair really is crazy! What the heck's your secret?" Joey looks down at Yugi, the two of them already boarded on the ship.**

**"L'Oreal. Because I'm worth it." Yugi says smoothly and without missing a beat while the logo for L'OREAL appeared at the top left of the screen.**

Yugi suddenly felt five pairs of eyes literally drilling into his skull, and he turned around slowly to see everybody (except for Yami) staring at him. "What?" He squeaks, never liking to be put on the spot. "So?" Tea asks vaguely. His eyebrow rises up. "...So..."

"What IS your secret?" Mai butts in.

" _What_?"

"I rather doubt it's gel because his hair isn't spiky or hard at all," Ryou muses idly, fingers running back and forth Yugi's thick locks of hair. "B-Bakura!" Yugi squeaks again, scooting away from the British teen next to him. It was all over at that moment. Now various hands were touching, twisting, pulling and caressing his hair and comments such as: "It doesn't get this way naturally, does it?" or "What hair dye do you use?" and other similar phrases.

After being ambushed for a while, and Yami just sitting idly by with a mischievous grin on his face, Yugi finally shouts exasperated. "I was born with this hair alright? Don't you see how my grandpa has it? It's also starfish-shaped!"

"Yugi, you don't expect us to believe you were born with blonde, black and violet-tipped hair do you?" Mai said with a pointed look on her face. "Well, it's  _true_!" He reiterated.

"Right now he may have grey hair, but my grandpa always used to tell me I got his hair color and style from him. He had it exactly the way I did. And why isn't anybody glomping Yami for this, he has the same hair I do!" Yugi said exhausted.

"Oh, don't mind me!" Yami cheerfully stated. "Continue on your quest of finding Yugi's hair secret. He has it very hidden away, trust me."

**Tea and Tristan appear hiding away behind large boxes. "Come on, Tristan! Let's sneak on board like Solid Snake!"**

**"Don't our parents even care that we're missing?!" Tristan wonders.**

Both scoffed. "We obviously didn't go 'missing.'" Tea stated with fingers emphasizing the last word. "Our parents knew we were going to Duelist Kingdom."

"They just didn't know we were stowaways." Tristan grinned at that.

**Mai makes her first appearance by walking towards Yugi and Joey with a smirk. "Is that a light-force sword in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" She casually asks, but looking down at Yugi with a sweet smile.**

Mai instantly stiffens up, seeing her character on screen for the first time. "That...isn't my voice at all!" She states rather angrily ."It actually sounds kind of masculine" Joey agreed. "What?!" She whirls around, steam coming out of her ears.

"H-HER voice! Not yours!"

**Joey is shown with a too-big smile, eye shut as if nervous. "Check it out, Yug!" The scene zooms back to the three, and as Mai straightens up her back, Joey continues.**

**"It's a pair of giant breasts attached to a woman."**

A large very prominent gasp came out of everyone present. Mai gives out the loudest screechy gasp possible and she looks at Joey with murder in her eyes.

Everybody's eyes are also wide and filled with mortification. But nobody was as mortified as Joey at the moment. He looked shocked speechless, mouth hung open in a perfect O, was sweating bullets, and his face was as red as a tomato. He immediately snaps out of it.

"I WOULD NEVER SAY THAT!" He shrieks.

"IT MAY BE AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE BUT THAT PERSON IS STILL YOU!" Mai screams, standing up as if preparing to cut him down. "Woah, woah Mai!" Yugi jumps up from his seat, and starts to to step closer to the furious woman. "Joey's right. These people may look like us, but they are definitely NOT us in any shape or form. " He says, hoping to calm Mai down.

Mai still looked as angry as ever. "He may not ever say it, because he knows I would KILL him but these characters might voice out our thoughts!" Her fists bunched up at her sides and she starts to move fast Yugi but Tea immediately blocked her. "Slow your roll there, girl!"

Joey started to sweat even more profusely than before, blonde hair popping out against his extremely-red skin. This time, Yami got involved.

"Even if that was the case, which I doubt it is..."He looked briefly at Joey, and then back at Mai. "Wouldn't you think Joey is the victim in all of this?" This made Mai look directly at him, flame dancing in her purple robs. Holy hell, that woman looked scary when mad. Yami gulped and continued hesitantly.

"Well, we all have our own personal thoughts right? Nobody has the right to breach them or it's an unjustifiable invasion of privacy. I can make a safe bet that everyone here might have some thoughts you'd rather not share with anyone. Whether they be bad, good, or embarrassing. It cannot be controlled nor help, and that's perfectly normal. I'm sure, Mai, there are thoughts you would be appalled to find they come to public knowledge, right?"

At this, Mai looked significantly less angry, and seemed just a little irritated. "Well...I guess when you put it that way, it doesn't make sense for me to get angry at something Joey can't control." She said lowly, sinking down to her seat at the sofa again.

Everyone sighed in relief, especially Joey.  _Crisis averted._

"Although I really don't think these characters voice our thoughts, and if they do it's a rare occurrence. " Ryou said pensively. "When I first got here and saw the episode prior to this one, Yugi's double said something rather rude to my double. I really don't believe Yugi would ever think in those lines, even if he's angry with me."

Yugi nodded in agreement. "You are right, Bakura. These characters merely say and do whatever they want. They are not associated with our mind in any way."

**"The name is Mai Valentine," Mai has a cocky hand on her hip for effect. "It's not a very subtle pun. But then again, nothing about me is very subtle."**

**"BOOOBIEEES!" Joey exclaims with an excited look in his face.**

Everybody does an exasperated and embarrassed facepalm, really hoping Mai won't be fired up from this comment. Meanwhile the blonde woman is glaring daggers at Joey, but doesn't say anything.

**"I'll crush you when we get to the island." Mai says as a way of farewell. "With your boobies right?"**

"PLEASE STOP TALKING!" Joey finally shouted at the screen, a vivid blush still strong in his cheeks.

**The scene changes to another part of the ship, where Tristan is looming over Tea, who looks worried about something. "What's wrong, Tea?" She looks back at him. "I need to use the bathroom, but the lady who dubs me won't admit it!"**

"The lady who dubs me?" Tea says, hopelessly confused.

**Tristan then points out to the ocean or to that general direction. "In another few hours, the sun will rise." Tea turns around to her friend, an angry vein pounding in her head and her fist curled up in the air. "What the f*#!k does that mean?!"**

"Oh great, I'm the second to swear so far." She sighs.

**The screen goes black with some white words in parenthesis saying: _(seriously, he actually says that...wtf?)_**

They all look at each other strangely.

**Tea is shown crouching behind one of the walls, staring at the deck when suddenly, someone appears walking towards the railings. "Hey, isn't that Bakura?" Sure enough, it was Ryou.**

**"Bakura?" Tristan repeated, and the scene cut into a close-up of Ryou's profile. "The limey kid from school?"**

**"What's he doing here?" Tea asked Tristan but he looked pretty calm. "Who cares? He's not even a main character."**

Ryou crossed his arms indignantly, giving out a "Hmph!' in distaste. Both Tea and Tristan only smiled nervously.

**"Whoa. Hehehe," Rex is seen relaxing on of the sofas to his deluxe room, as he gazes hungrily at Mai's approaching figure. "...Come to Raptor."**

"Gross." Mai says, disgusted.

**"Tell you what Rex," Mai sits down on the couch opposite the dork. "If I win this duel, I get to use your room. But if you win, then I'll give you a kiss."**

**"Cool." Rex says. "Then I like, won't be a virgin anymore."**

"I don't know how much idiocy I can take in one sitting." Seto Kaiba growled, having enough of this 'show'. Tea, who was right beside the serious child billionaire, flinched slightly as she hadn't heard him make a comment in quite a while.

**"Huhu. Hey Yugi," Weevil approaches Yugi and Joey. "Huhu, like give me your cards or something. Huhuhu."**

**Yugi looks at him, smiling. "Well, you're clearly evil. But I see no reason not to trust you."**

"A little naive there, Yug. 'Cus that is exactly what you did." Joey says in a condescending tone. "Well pardon me for thinking the best in people!" Yugi defends himself.

**Weevil throws Yugi's cards out to the ocean. "Say goodbye to Exodia!" Yugi looks devastated and Joey is also seen in shock as the cards fall down to the dark sea below them. "Huhu, yeah. Huhu. That was cool." Weevil walks away, quite proud of himself.**

**"Holy cow, I never even saw that coming!" Yugi exclaims and Joey jumps up on the railing heroically and dives out of the ship. "I'll save 'em!"**

**Celine Dion's famous 'My Heart Will Go On' song starts to play in the background while Joey dives into the water dramatically.**

**_You'ree hereeeeeee,_ **

"OH..MY...GOD."

**"Must...risk...life...for cards!" He get another card, but a wave of water instantly submerges him.**

**_And I knoooooow, my heart will,_ **

**Yugi then throws himself out of the ship, diving underwater to save Joey from drowning. He gets his hand to stop his from sinking anymore and carries him up to the surface of the water.**

**_Go oooooon..._ **

**Tristan's voice interrupts the important moment. "HEY!" Yugi turns to the ship, where the scene cuts to Tea and Tristan with a rope ladder hanging from the edge of the deck.**

**"GET A ROOM YOU TWO!"**

Uproarious laughter filled the room. It was to a point to where Mai was literally holding her stomach in pain, Ryou was wiping tears from his eyes, and even Yami was chuckling in amusement. Yugi and Joey were absolutely mortified, both of them hiding their flaming-red face in their palms.

"It was...such a touching moment." Kaiba stated with a smirk. Tea kept giggling away and Tristan threw an arm around Joey.

"How dare I interrupt the ensues of clear bromance?!" More hysterical laughter followed his comment.

"Shut  _up_ , Tristan." Surprisingly, this came from both Joey and Yugi.

**A door opens up and Rex is being kicked out with all of his belongings. "Get out loser!" Mai says to him and she shuts the door. "Uh, did I just score?"**

**"Sorry you almost drowned, guys." Tea said sympathetically.**

**"If it's any consolation, the sun will be up in a few hours." Tristan piped up. "Man, I can't believe I didn't save your cards. Compared to this, my sister's imminent blindness seems like a minor inconvenience."**

"Asshole." Joey mutters.

**Yugi seems surprised. "Your _sister_? How come you've never mentioned that sub-plot before?!"**

**"My parents got divorced a long time ago, because I tried teaching her how to drive." Joey said with a solemn expression. A flashback ensued.**

**_"Joey!" Serenity is seen behind a car window, clearly distressed and crying. "Stop this crazy thing!" The scene changes to a car driving forward while a young Joey is running after it._ **

**_"APPLY THE HANDBRAKE YA DUMB BROAD!"_ **

**Tristan is then thinking to himself. 'If she's going blind, I might actually have a chance with her.'**

Joey shoots a glare to Tristan.

**The sun is clearly up now, and the four are looking over the horizon, their back turned to the camera. "We'll both do our best Joey. You for your sister, and me for my grandpa." Tea is shown with a smile on her face. "I'm not even sure why I bothered coming!"**

**Now Tristan speaks. "Hey look! I was right about the sun!"**

**The screen turns black.**

"Well, this episode was certainly...a lot to take in." Ryou stated lamely.

"I'll say," Joey said. "I wonder how many of these are they? Will they stop at the timespan of where we are right now? Or will they continue into our future?"

"I guess we'll have to wait and see to figure that out." Mai replied.

.


End file.
